OC 210: OCEAN CIRCULATION Prof:Paul Quay Office: Rm 417 Ocean Science Bldg. Phone:206-685-8061 Email:[email protected] Web Page:

OC 210: OCEAN CIRCULATION

 Prof: Paul QuayOffice: Rm 417 Ocean Science Bldg.Phone:206-685-8061Email: [email protected] 

Web Page: http://courses.washington.edu/oc210/

TAsDavid Munro

206-221-6740

[email protected]

Noel Pelland

206-221-6735

[email protected]

Class Meeting Times

M, W and F at 11:30-12:20 in Rm 425 Ocean Science Building (OSB).

Possible opportunity to go out on the Thompson one afternoon (Friday Oct 23?)

Course Summary

Objectives

Learn about the processes causing large scale surface and deep circulation in the ocean and their impact on climate and the biology and chemistry of the ocean.

Develop skills to quantitatively solve problems.

-Oceanography is a quantitative science.

Course Components

- Course is a mixture of descriptive and quantitative discussions.

- Problem solving will be stressed.

(weekly problems, in-class problems, exam questions)

- Basic mathematics only is needed.

- Some basic concepts in physics will be used.

(e.g., forces)

- Units are important.

Lecture Notes • The lecture notes, including all figures presented in

class, will be posted on the course web page athttp://courses.washington.edu/oc210/

- lecture notes are in ‘outline’ form- figures as both Powerpoint and pdf files

• The lecture notes are divided into four topics following the syllabus.

 • Bring the lecture notes and figures to every class

- three hole binder? - some figures need to be in color (multiple per page)

  - if possible, read them before class

Textbook

• "Ocean Circulation" by Open University Press (2nd Edition in 2001, ISBN 0 7506 5278 0).

-copies should be available at the bookstore

-the well written text complements the lecture notes

-it is not required, but it can be helpful

• Online Textbook: Introduction to Physical Oceanography by Robert Stewart

http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/ocng_textbook/contents.html

Office Hours

• PQ: Rm 417 OSB (this Bldg), 206-685-8061– Anytime is OK, except right before class.– After class is fine. – Questions/comments can be sent via e-mail:

[email protected]

• TAs: Dave and Noel will arrange office hours. 

Course Expectations

What are your responsibilities? • Know the material covered in class for the exams.

-lecture notes, figures, problems discussed in class and presented in lecture notes

• Hand in weekly problem sets on time and in readable condition.

-you can work together but must turn in individual answers

What are my responsibilities?

• Lectures to present the major points of each topic• Answer questions (in class, via email, in office)• Use in-class problems to teach problem solving

skills• Make up and grade exams

-exams will be both quantitative (calculations) and descriptive

What are the TA's responsibilities?

• Make up and mark weekly problem sets.

• Answer questions and have help sessions for problem sets.

• Get the class familiar with Excel, if needed.

Grading Criteria

• Problem Sets 50%

• Exams (2) 30%

• Final 20%

• Course is graded on a curve with a mean grade of ~3.1

Elements of Course

The lectures, lecture notes and problem sets should help you understand:

• Understand why things happen. e.g., Why do surface currents move

perpendicular to horizontal pressure gradients?

• Learn the basic characteristics or properties of the ocean.

e.g., How do the temperature and salinity characteristics of the deep Atlantic Ocean differ from the deep Pacific Ocean?

Elements of Course

• Learn how to calculate rates of processes.e.g., Calculate the rate of heat transported by the Gulf Stream given a current speed of 1 meter/sec and temperature of 15ºC.

• Learn the importance of units.e.g., Heat transport (joules/sec) = area (m2 )* current speed (m/s) * density (kg/m3) * heat capacity (joules/°K/kg) * temperature (°K)

Elements of Course

• Improve your skill in using measurements (data) to derive qualitative and quantitative information about processes occurring in the ocean.

• The weekly problem sets, in-class problems, questions in the lecture notes and exam questions should help you develop problem solving skills.

Elements of Course

• The textbook should be used as a reference to supplement the class notes.-when notes are confusing, descriptions in the

textbook can help clarify the situation

• The exams will test your ability to:-describe basic characteristics of the ocean-identify the processes that are causing certain observations-calculate the rates of certain processes given a set of observations

Student’s comments about the course

• Students put in an average of ~6-7 hours per week. • Intellectual challenge of course is in top 20% of

courses.• Amount of effort to succeed is in top 20% of courses.• Typically, about 70% of students are Oceanography

or Fisheries majors.• Student’s evaluation grade for professor is 4.3 (last

10 years)

Student’s comments about the course

• Liked the lectures and having lecture notes.

• Learned a lot through solving weekly problem sets.

• A lot of material is covered, sometimes too quickly.

• Exams are difficult and long.

• Need more preparation for exam questions.

SYLLABUS

I. Basic Concepts (Weeks 1 - 3)

• Seawater properties: salinity, temperature, density

• Distributions of T, S and ρ in the ocean• Mass, salt, heat and nutrient transport

• Steady-state conditions and residence times

II. Circulation in the Deep Sea (Weeks 4-6)

• Conveyor Belt circulation• Deep water formation regions• Intermediate, deep and bottom waters• Temperature versus salinity relationships• Distribution of T, S, oxygen, and nutrients• Deep ocean circulation paths and times using

tracer distributions• Effect on earth’s climate in past, present and

future

III. Surface Ocean Circulation (Weeks 7-8)

• Role of winds

• Coriolis Force

• Ekman transport

• Dynamic height

• Horizontal pressure gradients

• Barotropic and baroclinic conditions

III. Surface Ocean Circulation (Weeks 8-9)

• Geostrophic currents

• Western boundary currents (e.g., Gulf Stream)

• Impact on heat transport

• Impact on nutrient distributions and biology

• Impact on atmospheric CO2 levels

IV. Circulation in the Equatorial Pacific (Week 10)

• Role of trade winds

• Major equatorial currents

• Upwelling at the equator

• El Nino events

• Impact on atmospheric CO2 levels

• Impact on biology

• Impact on global climate/weather patterns

Importance of Ocean Circulation

– Climate: ocean transports heat and affects the global pattern of air temperatures over land

– Greenhouse Gases: ocean is a major sink (one- third) for carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by fossil fuel combustion.

• Dissolution of CO2 in ocean lessens global warming, but acidifies the ocean.

– Ocean biology: currents transport nutrients required by plankton and influence photosynthesis.

Earth’s surface temperature over Earth’s surface temperature over the last 1000 years (N. Hemisphere)the last 1000 years (N. Hemisphere)

IPCC

Temperature is plotted as the departure from the mean temperature or “temperature anomaly”.

JJM Hansen et al. 2001

Global annual surface temperatures 1950 Global annual surface temperatures 1950 -- 20002000

2000

Comparing Impacts of

Natural and Future Climate Change in the

Pacific NW